When we are talking to clients, we are always looking at what’s best for them – not only today, but also many years down the road. One of the questions we always face is whether to go with a “premise based” or a “hosted system” for business phone equipment.
Using premise based office phone systems involves purchasing the phone equipment. On the premise based side, there’s always a cost attributed to equipment you buy. With a premise based system you would own and operate the equipment, on premise, through your telephone vendor.
On the hosted, or “cloud based” office phone systems, everything in your system is in a cloud with your chosen vendor. With a hosted system you would pay monthly, not only for the lease of the phone, but also for your telephone lines. At the end of the lease term, if you decide to leave your hosted vendor you have to continue to get those telephone lines off of your hosted vendor to go to a different vendor.
The up front cost with hosted office phone systems is minimal. You may have to purchase the phones, but some vendors actually include that cost into the lease. Your monthly fee could be paying for the phone, the telephone lines, and for all the features you could get with an on premise business phone system.
A hosted application is typically a good solution for businesses with a small number of users (4-8).
See all the benefits of a hosted PBX.